Suicide and ethical theory

Update Item Information
Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Humanities
Department Philosophy
Creator Battin, Margaret P.
Title Suicide and ethical theory
Date 1983
Description Except in the present century, suicide has been viewed throughout Western history as an act having ethical significance, one for which moral blame or praise was a proper response. Response, of course, varied with the times. During the Stoic era of Greece and Rome, suicide was praised as the morally responsible act of the wise man. During the medieval Christian era, it was blamed as the most reprehensible of sins. With the influence of Durkheim and Esquirol at the close of the 19th century, however, the old ethical view of suicide was replaced by a newer, scientific one. Suicide came to be seen as the result of sociological and psychological conditions for which the person could not be held responsible, and for which neither blame nor praise would therefore be appropriate.
Type Text
Publisher Guilford Press
Volume 13
Issue 4
First Page 231
Last Page 239
Subject Ethical theory
Subject LCSH Suicide -- Moral and ethical aspects
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Battin, M. P. (1983). Suicide and ethical theory. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 13(4), 231-9.
Rights Management (c) Guilford Press
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 1,839,514 bytes
Identifier ir-main,10408
ARK ark:/87278/s6q24hxj
Setname ir_uspace
ID 707350
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6q24hxj
Back to Search Results